Making its way back to Southern California—specifically, Orange County—the national touring company of the Tony Award-winning musical MEMPHIS will be spreading its tuneful message of rock and soul at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a two-week engagement starting November 6.

Smack-dab in the center of this electrically-charged musical set in the turbulent South of the 50's is phenomenal triple-threat Felicia Boswell, who, appropriately enough, plays the leading role of Felicia, a juke-joint singer who enters into a very taboo-for-the-times interracial love affair with rabble-rousing local radio DJ Huey Calhoun (played by Bryan Fenkart) while trying to pursue a professional recording career amidst an environment boiling over with volatile racial tensions.

Blessed with natural beauty and a killer singing voice, Boswell is mesmerizing in the highly-emotional role, seamlessly transitioning from fiery to vulnerable within the span of the show. (In my review of the musical during its appearance at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood earlier this year, I remarked that Boswell "had me muttering 'wow' with each song she sang.")

Equally as impressive as her voice is the list of past stage credits she has amassed. Prior to her originating the role of Felicia in the national touring company of MEMPHIS, she was previously Tony nominee Montego Glover's cover for the same role in the Broadway production. She has also been in the national tours of DREAMGIRLS and AIDA and have embodied well-received roles in regional productions of RENT, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, THE WIZ and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, to name a few.

To our delight—right before she and the brilliant cast take the show behind the Orange Curtain—she agreed to answer a series of silly, rapid-fire questions from BroadwayWorld.

Performances of the National Tour Production of MEMPHIS at The Segerstrom Center for the Arts continue through Sunday, November 18. Tickets can be purchased online at www.SCFTA.org, by phone at 714-556-2787 or in person at the SCFTA box office (open daily at 10 am). Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, November 17 will include audio description, open captioning and sign-language interpretation.

Comments

About Author

Michael Lawrence Quintos is a quiet, mild-mannered Art Director by day. But as night falls, he regularly performs on various stages everywhere as a Counter-Tenor soloist, actor, and dancer for The Men Alive Chorus since 2002. He's sung everything from Broadway, Jazz, R&B, Classical, Gospel and Pop. His musical theater roots started early, performing in various school musical productions and a couple of nationally-televised programs. The performing bug eventually brought him a brief championship run in the Philippines' version of "Star Search" before moving to Las Vegas at age 11. College brought him out to Orange County, California, where he earned a BFA in Graphic Design and a BA in Film Screenwriting. He has spent several years as a designer and art director for various entertainment company clients, while spending his free time watching or performing in shows.